Detained Ugandan opposition figure is unconscious, in intensive care, his wife says

Besigye, 70, collapsed in a court in the capital ​Kampala where he is standing trial for treason. ​He was taken away in an ambulance. In a ⁠post on the X platform, Winnie Byanyima, who ​also heads the United Nations AIDS programme UNAIDS, said ​her husband had been admitted to an ICU at Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital.

“He is unconscious, unable to speak, ​and unresponsive even to a pain stimulus,” she ​said. Government spokesperson Alan Kasujja did not answer a Reuters call for ‌comment. Besigye ⁠has been in custody since November 2024 after he was detained together with his aide Obeid Lutale in neighbouring Kenya and both were repatriated to Uganda ​where they were ​subsequently charged ⁠with treason.

His lawyers, supporters and rights activists say that the charges are politically ​motivated and that his prolonged detention is ​part of ⁠an ongoing crackdown on opponents by long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni. Museveni, 81, was declared winner of the last election ⁠in ​January although the results were ​rejected by runner-up Bobi Wine, who has since gone into exile in the ​United States.